Darkness Falls
by Driliongueur
Summary: What if Ichigo had been captured by Aizen when he was younger? What if his mother was attacked much earlier in the storyline and that because of these occurrences, Ichigo had to mature much earlier? Some details might deviate from the original story and I will try not to put any unnecessary OOC's. No pairings yet I'll decide as I go along.


Pain. It was all he felt lately. Ichigo groaned, slanting his eyes open, but seeing nothing but darkness yet again, closed his eyes back. _Okaa-san, help. _It was no use, he knew that already. But in the mind of a 5 year old child, it was hard not to lean towards such a thought.

"Well, child, it seems you have awakened," said a maniacal voice, seeming calm, yet having such a sharp edge to it that it cut through the eerie silence like a knife.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?! I WANNA SEE MY MOMMY!" Ichigo cried. Yet, for all that emotion the only reaction it got him was a highly sadistic chuckle.

"Now now, you'll be too busy with me to see anyone else for a while now," Aizen's cruel words seemed to crush the child even more through his desperate struggle for survival.

Ichigo's cry resounded loud, yet seemed unheard by all in the endless darkness that was his cage.

Urahara Kisuke sighed, his usual shady smile nowhere to be seen. There was no place for it now. Not only had the Kurosaki family lost a loving mother and wife but also their first child. The worst part was that the child's body was never recovered, so if he was dead, they would be unable to bury him. Despite always taking things in stride, bucking up and grinning no matter what the situation was, he hardly thought Isshin would be able to get through this loss perfectly sane.

Grey eyes were immediately hidden by a tilted striped green and white hat. It was something he often did and the people who knew him would know why. After all he's been through, showing any sort of emotion was a hard thing for the tired shop keeper. Yet it had been almost 9 months now since the death of Kurosaki Masaki and the 'disappearance', if it could be called that, of her eldest son Ichigo Kurosaki, after an attack from the hollow Grand Fisher. Even when things seemed to brighten again after all the pain and betrayal, another loss driven by the same man has thrown them into despair. When would this all end?

Sighing again, he decided to get up and do something. Sitting moping around would do him no good.

_Ichigo. Can you hear me, Ichigo._

The child groaned for the umpteenth time. He didn't have enough strength to even open his eyes anymore. However, through his hazy mind he noted that the voice did not seem to echo like Aizen's did when he entered this room, as if it did not even originate from the outside. _Odd. _Disregarding that thought due to the pain, he tried to slip into another blissful and unconscious slumber until that same voice bothered him again.

_Ichigo, you must stay awake. If you fall asleep one last time, you won't be waking up._

This seemed to grab his attention, and he slowly opened his swollen, bloodshot eyes.

"Wh…who a…re yo…u?" he croaked, unable to form coherent sentences after his last 'session' with his captor.

_You have no need to speak Ichigo, for I reside within your mind only. Look deep, search for my light, it is there through all the darkness. Find it._

Though that was obviously an order, the voice did not seem harsh nor intimidating. In fact, it soothed him, its presence sending a welcomed comfort through his being. Closing his eyes, he searched, desperately trying to cling to that one last shred of hope. It felt like forever, swimming through the darkness, finding nothing yet not having the heart to give up. All he wanted was for the pain to stop, the fear to fade, and for him to finally be able to see the light after so long. This voice, this presence, sent him an impression of raw untamed power, yet seemed so soothing that he felt finally secure.

_There! _Suddenly, he came upon some 'glowing' point. Although he was not seeing it since his eyes were closed, he felt the voice's presence radiate from that single point, as if all the power present around him had condensed and formed a juncture.

_Come. Go deeper and find me Ichigo._

And after all these hardships, some semblance of a smile formed on the child's face as he thoughtlessly 'threw' himself through the pinpoint.

He felt as if he was falling. Flinging his eyes open, he flailed "Help!"

As soon as he uttered that simple word, a shadow seemed to surround him, 'carry' him, safely to what seemed to be the ground below. As soon as he was on the ground though, the shadow receded, instead shaping itself into what seemed to be a middle aged man. He had a little stubble on his face and wore a pair of black shades. He wore tight leather pants and was covered almost entirely by a black cloak, dancing in an oddly absent breeze. He had jet black hair yet his whole being seemed outlined by a sort of crimson aura, such that the man was indeed the perfect picture of raw, untamed power.

Ichigo took a small step back. He did not know this man and 9 months of torture by Aizen had rendered him cautious and fearful. The man seemed to notice this and looked a little saddened? and quite rejected from this action. However, through all this, Ichigo could see nothing but his own fear.

_Do not fear me Ichigo, for in this world, the only one who can harm you is yourself._

At that, he stared confusedly back at the strange man. He was making no sense, at least in Ichigo's perspective.

Resisting the urge to sigh at his young wielder's confusion, the man continued:

_I am the entity that defines your soul, the one that is the inherent source of your power. Whenever you feel a certain conviction or you will yourself to perform a certain action, I am here every step of the way. However, you seem to have given up hope and in consequence, this world is being drowned by the continuous rain befalling it. It is my wish to restore this hope to you Ichigo._

At this, the child glared angrily back at the older man. How could he have any hope left after all this? Where was he when he was suffering at the hands of the megalomaniac?

"Then why weren't you there when he was making me hurt?! Why didn't you help me then?! Why now…?" The last part was uttered through a choked sob. All he wanted was to go back home. To curl in his mother's lap and forget everything as he bathed in her presence. It seemed however that even the parts that were part of him didn't want to help. He paused at that thought:

"Wait" _hiccup_ "what do you mean you define my soul?"

_For your first question, I was unable to reach you simply because your soul was in too much turmoil for my voice to reach you. I was able to do so now because, as death becomes imminent, the soul calms itself to a point of near silence._

He started at that. Death? Was he really going away? Disappearing? Never going to see his father or brothers again? But before he could sink himself into despair, the man continued:

_Fear not Ichigo, for as long as you have me, you have no need for fear. I define your soul such as I am a symbol of your greatest strengths. You can think of me as a part of yourself that can talk to you. _He added such that his young wielder could somewhat understand. The more detailed explanation would come later.

_I can get you out of this prison but you need to relinquish a part of yourself to me._

Ichigo, having been sitting through the explanation jumped up at that statement:

"Wait! You can help me get out of here?! How?!"

The man gave an almost imperceptible tug of his lips, seemingly giving his closest version of a fond smile. That was what he existed for. To see the fire within his wielder's eyes and to help carry out his resolve.

_Relax. Give in to my presence and face forward. Do not give in to your fear. I will handle the rest._

The child nodded. He had nothing else to lose and this man seemed kinder to him than anyone in the past 9 months, so he willingly gave in to his naivety and let himself trust this strange yet powerful man. Closing his eyes, he felt himself come back to his body. However, before the usual pain kicked in, he felt his body being taken over. At first he tried to struggle, the feeling foreign to him, but the soothing hum of the man's presence helped ease his mind enough for his body to be completely taken over. His last thought before unconsciousness claimed him was for his mother, father and little brothers. He certainly hoped he would see them again.

An explosion sounded in the underground facility of Las Noches. Startled out of his, arguably dark and quite creepy, experiments, the octava espada looked up and promptly headed towards the source of the explosion, hand shifting to his zanpaktou. Coming to the site, where already many of his factions were clustering, he shoved his way through to the secret cage where Aizen-sama kept the young orange head only to freeze dead in his tracks at the sight before him.

Instead of an orange headed boy, there was a lizard-type hollow. Although admittedly short, its slanted yellow eyes, whipping tail and strengthened armoured hierro seemed to give it quite a dangerous aura. Its spiritual pressure however was somewhere in the high third seat to low lieutenant level, which was startling since the boy was only 5! Szayelaporro shook himself out of his stupor and drew his sword. Aizen-sama had just left for soul society and he would be extremely displeased if his new play toy escaped. However, instead of attacking like any normal hollow would, the beast just turned tail and ran. Its speed was tremendous and the mad scientist's eyes widened. _H…How is that even possible?! I am barely able to keep up with him! _He thought as he ran after the…. Thing, whatever it was.

All of a sudden, the hollow turned around and seemed to wait. _This is my chance, strike quickly and efficiently_, thought the octava espada as he sped towards the beast, aiming for a low blow. However, as soon as Szayel was close enough, the hollow fired a red beam at point blank range. _Cero! _But it was too late. Luckily for the mad scientist, the cero was still very immature and it only left some minor burn marks. The owner of the cero on the other hand, had used this as a diversion and had hightailed it out of there. _Damn, I underestimated that thing! It could be anywhere by now, considering its speed. _

Turning around, the espada immediately sent a message throughout Las Noches to be on the lookout for the strange hollow. Unbeknown to him however, the ichigo-turned-hollow had already made its way to the vast Hueco Mundo desert.

**In case you were wondering, I decided that Ichigo would have two little brothers instead of sisters. This might change the story a bit but I wanted to try it out and see how the plot goes from there.**

**Thanks for reading and please review on your way out!**


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